All efforts are continuing to increase coal output: Coal ministry

NEW DELHI: The coal ministry on Tuesday said all efforts are being made to further boost output and dispatch of coal, and that production of the dry fuel jumped over 36 per cent in the first half of May.

The ministry’s statement comes against the backdrop of certain parts of the country grappling with power outages due to a shortage of coal for power plants.

“During the first half of May 2022, total coal production increased to 33.94 Million Tonnes (MT) achieving a growth of 36.23 per cent over the production of 24.91 MT during the same period last year,” the ministry said in a statement.

The dispatch of the dry fuel also increased 15.87 per cent to 37.18 MT in the first half of the current month over the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

The coal ministry “is continuing all efforts to further enhance coal production and dispatch to meet the increasing power demand in the country due to sustained economic growth and also the seasonal factors”.

Total coal dispatches were at 71.77 MT in April, registering a rise of 9.39 per cent on a year-on-year basis. The country’s coal production rose to 67 MT in April.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) — which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal output — has played main role in augmenting production and recorded its highest monthly coal output of 53.47 MT in April.

The total dispatches of the dry fuel from CIL increased to 57.50 MT in April from 54.23 MT in the year-ago period.

This represents a growth of 6.03 per cent. As per the consolidated figures, overall dispatches (including non-CIL production) to the power sector have been at the level of 61.69 MT as compared to 52.32 MT in April 2021, an increase of 17.91 per cent.